Ferrari might have just missed out on taking the Constructors’ Championship in 2024, but the team still maximised their chances with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc had a remarkable race whereby he started from P19 on the grid after exiting qualifying early, then incurring a penalty for taking a third energy store component.
Leclerc was desperate to win Ferrari the Constructors’ Championship, but ultimately fell short with Lando Norris taking victory in Abu Dhabi.
Discussing his race on Sky Sports F1 (08/12 3:20pm), former F1 driver Anthony Davidson said he did something ‘epic’ in the opening laps that enabled him to finish on the podium at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Charles Leclerc overtakes 11 cars in opening laps of Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The Monogasque had a great start off the line by overtaking several of the cars around him, then avoided the collision between Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri at the first corner.
Leclerc then managed to overtake four cars at Turn 6 with an oppotunistic move around the outside of the corner to jump to P12.
After a handful of laps at the start of the race, he managed to overtake 11 cars, before working his way through the top ten places and eventually finding himself in third place.
Davidson highlighted just how impressive Leclerc was in those opening laps, having gained the most places of any driver.
“This is some epic driving from the Monogasque. Opportunistic of course, but a great sense of where the action was, where to take chances, and where not to,” said Davidson.
Nico Rosberg expects Charles Leclerc to beat Lewis Hamilton
With Leclerc set to gain Lewis Hamilton as his teammate at Ferrari from next season, talk has turned to whether he will be able to beat him in their first partnership.
It will be one of the biggest tests of both drivers, with Hamilton keen to show that he has it to win an eighth title with Leclerc will want to prove that he is the future for Ferrari.
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Nico Rosberg believes Leclerc will have what it takes to beat Hamilton in his first season, based on how the seven-time world champion has performed against George Russell.
Hamilton managed to outscore Russell on total points scored in the last three season with his last-lap overtake on the Briton in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton scored a total of 697 points to Russell’s 695.
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